A notorious white nationalist has been granted the right to intervene in a human rights case involving flyers that targeted a transgender candidate in the B.C. election.

Morgane Oger, the defeated NDP candidate for Vancouver-False Creek, filed a complaint against Bill Whatcott after he distributed handouts accusing her and her party of “promoting a false narrative” — specifically, that she is a woman.

In a decision Friday, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal granted intervener status to Paul Fromm, arguing on behalf of the Canadian Association for Free Expression (CAFE). Fromm is a self-described white nationalist and the director of CAFE, a non-profit that has intervened in several human rights cases across Canada involving, for example, Holocaust deniers and homophobic websites.

Morgane Oger was the 2017 candidate for the B.C. NDP in the riding of Vancouver-False Creek. (Belle Ancel Photography)

Oger told CBC News that she was disappointed by the decision.

“I feel that it’s regrettable,” she said. “I am tired a little bit of people thinking that just because they hate someone…they can just negate their existence. It’s time that this ends, and CAFE is going to try to keep this going instead of putting an end to what to me is an open-and-shut case.”

Fromm had argued that CAFE’s presence was necessary during proceedings because Whatcott could not afford a lawyer.

And tribunal member Walter Rilkoff agreed, but only to an extent.

“Given CAFE’s extensive participation in other fora in Canada, I have decided that its submissions may be of assistance but only for the purpose of making written and oral submissions,” Rilkoff wrote in his decision.

Fromm will not be allowed to cross-examine any witnesses, and will have to file applications to call witnesses of his own.

A history of extremism

Like Fromm, the man at the centre of the complaint also has a long history of promoting extremist views.

Whatcott was the subject of a landmark 2013 ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada upholding the country’s hate speech laws, and is currently facing a $103-million class action lawsuit over graphic anti-gay flyers distributed during last year’s Toronto Pride parade.

The flyers he distributed in Yaletown this spring used graphic and derogatory language, and expressed “concern about the promotion and growth of homosexuality and transvestitism in British Columbia and how it is obscuring the immutable truth about our God-given gender.”

Bill Whatcott is a Christian activist with a long history in Canadian courts and tribunals.

Oger remembers learning about the flyers during a debate with her Liberal opponent, Sam Sullivan.

“My initial reaction was devastation. It was like, oh God, how horrible. My fear was, what are people going to think? Is this going to actually affect people?” she said.

Friends, family and members of the community rallied around her, Oger said, but she was still worried about her safety.

“I was concerned that his language could actually cause others to act in a more violent way,” she said.

The complaint alleges discrimination on the basis of gender identity, language that was only added to the B.C. Human Rights Code last year, thanks in part to Oger’s advocacy…

Congratulations you are now a woman. If it has not escaped your attention you have been hit with the ugly stick real hard… sucks to be you. All women have some kind of body image issue – breasts are too big/small — too fat/petite —- etc. etc. We deal with it well. But what is this?

Transgender idiots have no business pretending to understand what it is to be female. They have no business pretending to be a real man either. That is the whole point I guess. They just opt out into fairy land, and don’t want to commit to anything…

Very well put, searingreverie! Same-o same-o! So they have the “right” to be nasty, immoral freaks, but we don’t have the right to come against them?! Bull Feathers! Also, that thing mis-spelled it’s name! It should be “ogre”, not oger! (My Heritage Dictionary -Mr. David Lane’s- while in the gulag unrighteously, which I now own, use, and treasure!!!- defines this ogre as

“A fabled man-eating monster and a cruel and brutish ‘person!” I always liked Alvin Lee’s-great lead guitarist and lead vocalist from Ten Years After rock legends-who I saw twice live- “every where are kikes and fairies, tell me where is sanity? I’d love to change the world, but I don’t know what to do now, so I’ll leave it up to YOU now.”.. that’s right, Alvin, and WE are the YOU now. You NOW! We can and we WILL!!!!

About Billy:

An author of both fiction and nonfiction books, Billy Roper is a former high school and junior high History, Civics, Economics, and Geography teacher. He has been a candidate for public office, a lifelong political activist, leader, and spokesman. Mr. Roper has a Bachelor's degree in History and Political Science and a Master of Liberal Arts degree in History with a specialty in Anthropology. He currently resides with his wife, stepson, and other animals in what will become New America. Mr. Roper may be reached through e-mail at roper_billy@yahoo.com.